The NFL offseason grows ever closer by the day, and as the New Orleans Saints look towards the future under a new head coach, there is also some time to look in retrospect at their 2024 offseason. While they only had a couple of signings and departures, it is worth taking a look at how each of those panned out during the season.
One of their more notable 2024 signings was left guard Lucas Patrick, who ended up being the starter for the large majority of the time he was available and was an intriguing piece throughout the course of the year. Let's take a look at his contract, 2024 season, and give the signing a grade:
Free agent contract
Lucas Patrick signed one of the more simple contracts when it comes to the Saints, with a one-year deal worth $1,210,000 with $324,000 guaranteed. Among the left guards in the 2024 season, this was the 38th largest contract of 94, so near starting value as he almost made the top 32.
There are no additional void years or additions as it was a smaller scale contract, so the Saints have full flexibility to let him walk or bring him back if they wish to do so.
Snap counts
Patrick has had a very split snap count in his career, as early on he did not get many at all, but then he started getting significantly more in recent years. Here are his offensive snap totals for each season, only including games he played in:
-
2017: 29% (227)
-
2018: 29% (278)
-
2019: 15% (137)
-
2020: 90% (939)
-
2021: 82% (911)
-
2022: 65% (269)
-
2023: 88% (958)
-
2024: 79% (563)
2024 season review
2024 was a solid season for Patrick, not his best but absolutely one of his best, and it went heavily under the radar due to the time he missed with injury. In his 11 games played (10 started), he allowed 0 sacks, 10 pressures, and had 3 penalties, good for a 98.4% pass blocking rate. This type of production is exceptional, especially when dealing with injuries later in the season that made things difficult on him.
Report card grade
Overall this was a solid signing for the Saints, given the price and production both being solid. The six games missed makes it tough to go higher than where we have him graded, however it was definitely a season worth following up with another one-year deal. Given he was expected to be replacement-level or a low-end starter, he had an exceptional season statistically and worked well with the offensive line in place.
